


Sometimes, Always, Forever

by icybay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:01:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25790017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icybay/pseuds/icybay
Summary: A series examining how different characters learn to move forward after the Battle of Hogwarts. Shifting perspectives and lots of angst. Tags will be updated as the story progresses.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 11





	Sometimes, Always, Forever

It always ended up like this. They always ended up back in this position.

When they met, they were just kids. They were young and it was okay to have a crush on your brothers best friend. It was okay for them to sit together late at night, while everyone was asleep. The Burrow had always been a popular place for her older brothers friends to spend time at during the holidays. Ginny had grown up with six very social older brothers, and had had crushes on their friends for most of her life.

It wasn’t weird to like Harry too. 

As the years passed, Harry had begun to feel less and less like just her older brother's friend. He had become her friend as well. They’d play Quidditch, and talk about everything from school to the war that had been reaching a boiling point around them. Sometimes, when Ginny’s nightmares were bad and the dark and solitude of her room became too much, she’d make her way downstairs and sometimes Harry would be there too. 

Sometimes they would talk about it. They both knew what it felt like to have Voldemort inside of them. They had both felt that darkness infect them. Sometimes, one or neither of them wanted to talk about it, and they’d just sit together, drinking tea or hot cocoa. Maybe one of them would be reading a book or a magazine. Maybe Ginny would end up reading over Harry’s shoulder, and they’d fall asleep leaning on each other. 

Dating Harry had been a dream come true at first. Running into each other's arms, him picking her up and kissing her in front of all of Gryffindor house. It had felt like a fairytale. 

For a while at least. 

Eventually, things became strained between them. She understood that Harry was the Boy Who Lived, of course she did. That’s what had drawn her attention to him in the first place. However, Harry hadn’t been the Boy Who Lived or the Chosen One to Ginny for a long time. Eventually he was just Harry. She had been understanding when she would go to join Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the Great Hall or on the couches in the Common Room and their conversations would grind to a halt. She tried to understand when Harry would go to have secret meetings in Dumbledore's office, and the looks that he, Hermione and her brother would share when Harry returned. Looks that said “When we’re alone. When Ginny’s not here.”

She had been understanding when Dumbledore had died, and Harry had broken up with her. Ginny knew why he was doing it. Hell, she had figured it would come to this at some point. 

It still hurt though. 

It hurt when on his birthday, she kissed him, trying to convey to him how she felt with only her lips on his. 

It hurt at Bill and Fluer’s wedding, when she watched him dissapperate without her. 

It hurt when she returned to Hogwarts alone, for the first time without her family or Harry. 

It hurt everytime the Carrows crucio’d her for being a bloodtraiter, or back talking, or refusing to torture another student, or simply because they were bored. And Ginny knew she shouldn't blame Harry for that. But she couldn't help but think to herself, “if only Harry was here,” or “why couldn’t he have taken me with him?”

Ginny resented Harry for a long time after the final battle. Of course she was grateful to him. Of course she was glad that Voldemort was finally gone for good. But she was also getting over the deaths of Lupin, and Tonks, and her own brother. 

Harry had tried to reconcile with her in the weeks after the battle. He had tried over and over to get Ginny to forgive him. 

“Of course I forgive you Harry. How could I not forgive you? You saved us.”

“But? I feel like there’s something wrong, Ginny. I’ve tried to get you to talk to me for weeks but you keep finding excuses to run away.” It was late, probably actually early morning, and they were sitting together on one of the Burrow’s many lumpy couches. Ginny’s tea was untouched, and she could feel it getting cold in her hands. 

“I wonder what could possibly be wrong with me Harry.” Ginny was glaring at him, but it wasn’t the patented Weasley Woman glare she had learned from her mother at a young age. She was actually furious with him, and she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. 

Harry was looking at her with his stupid sad eyes and why couldn’t he just let her be? 

“You know that’s not what I meant Gin. I’m not trying to be insensitive.”

Ginny could see black spots in her vision. She didn’t know if she had ever been this angry before. Before she knew what she was doing, Ginny had thrown her cup of tea in Harry’s face. They sat in silence, staring at each other for a few moments. Harry looked more surprised than she had ever seen him before. He didn’t even seem angry. Before he could say anything, Ginny slowly stood, carefully placing her mug down on the table in front of the couch before turning to go back to her bedroom. 

Ginny didn’t realize that she was crying until she felt her wet pillowcase start to stick to her face. 

Ginny avoided Harry for some time after that incident. Even when her body ached for her to move, to do something, to go anywhere, she laid still in her bed. Hermione must’ve known what had happened, because she had been kind enough to bring Ginny’s meals to her. She refused to go downstairs and be alone with him, where she knew he would be. On the rare occasion Ginny left her room to use the restroom or get her own food, and on the even more rare occasion she would see Harry in the hall or sitting at the kitchen table. Ginny could tell, even when trying to ignore him, that Harry hadn’t been sleeping well. But she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that even while angry with him, with everything, she still craved his company and comfort. 

Before Ginny knew it, it was July. Harry’s birthday was only a few days away. She knew that she was being borderline ridiculous to be avoiding him to this extent, but she was growing numb inside, and couldn’t bring herself to care. 

When she heard the knock on her door, she knew it was him. Her mother or Hermione wouldn’t have bothered, her dad was at work, and Ron had stopped trying to see her pretty early on in her self-isolation. 

“What do you want Harry?”

“Can I come in please?” Ginny was quiet for a while. She hoped that maybe he would give up and leave her alone, but she knew his savior complex would never let him. “Ginny, please. I’ll be quick. I promise.” 

“Come in.” She said it so quietly that she hoped maybe he wouldn’t hear her granting him entrance. 

Ginny heard the door click open and closed her eyes. Even if she couldn’t hide from him, she still didn’t want to look at him.

“I’m leaving.” 

Ginny’s eyes shot open at that. He was leaving her again. Of course he was. Why would he want to stay? She had been horrible to him. She slowly sat up, trying to look calm. Her eyes met Harry’s. He almost looked surprised. She wasn’t sure if he was more shocked at her crazed appearance or at his own words. 

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Ginny’s voice cracked with disuse. 

“I’m moving out. I can’t stay here anymore. I feel like… I feel like a burden. Everyone is hurting and I’m the reason. So I’m going to leave.”

“You’re not the reason everyone is hurting, Harry. You always put the world on your shoulders. It’s not - “ 

“I’m hurting you.” Ginny looked away from him. His words broke something in her. She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tell him it wasn’t his fault. She knew deep down he hadn’t hurt her on purpose, that he never would. “I’m hurting you Ginny. And I know what you’re thinking, that I’m being sacrificial again. But I would do anything for you. I would do anything to protect you, to make you happy. And I can’t take back everything that happened, but I can do this. I can make you feel comfortable in your own home. So I’m moving out. I’m going to Grimmauld Place for now. Hermione said she’d come with me and help me clean it up, make it livable. I think she’s been feeling a bit out of place too to be honest. She… Anyway. I’ll leave you alone now.” Harry got up to leave. 

“Now?” Harry had a sad look in his eyes. Ginny thought maybe his heart was breaking, but she also might have been projecting. 

“No, not now. After my birthday I think.” He turned away from her then, took a few steps toward the door. “Will you come down for it?” She looked at his back. His shoulders looked tense, like he was afraid of her answer, of her rejection. “For my birthday, I mean.” For the first time, Ginny realized that maybe she had hurt him too. 

“Sure, Harry.” Ginny saw his shoulders slightly drop, saw his long exhale. He looked over his shoulder then, giving her a tense smile. And then he walked away. 

The next day, two days before Harry’s birthday, three days before Harry would move out, Ginny rose with the sun.


End file.
